Today, some of Cultural Geography MA students, SCG PhD students and Geography Dept Staff from Royal Holloway went to have a visit to the sites behind Kew Garden. This visit focused on the contemporary management and uses of the historical botanical collections. We visited the economic botany (plant artefacts), the herbarium (dried specimens) and the library and archives.

on the way to Kew

Kew is in a nice area, with beautiful neibourhood.

Herbarium collection and the original collector’s portrait

In the old area of Kew’s herbarium collection, the building was built in the 19 century, and it is arranged like this to absorb more light and avoid use fire for lighting, to protect the collection from fire.

how the newer collection is arranged: coloured dots

In Kew’s newer part of the herbarium collection, they use matching colour to show the specimens’ original location, making it easier and faster to find them.

The very spicemen collected by Darwin himself

Wax flowers and Felix taking photo of them

the Wardian case

The upper picture is a postcard from Kew. The Postcard shows Harry Ruck, Kew’s packer and later storekeeper from 1912 to 1959, packing a Wardian case in the early 1950s. Wardian cases were used between the 1840s and 1960s to transport plants around the world. The rest two are photos of the Wardiam case from the economic botany collection.